Where I'm From by Jenn Wright

not in the typical sense but

a town within a large city 

a small place where you may know my name

  or my face

but it ends there

I'm from a medium sized house with a medium sized family in it

from Kevin, the other one of two children

two point five children and a white picket fence?

not so much, 

a gray wire fence though does the same job

       holds in the large dreams

       protecting them from harm

       as we sit together around the kitchen table discussing days on end 

I'm from a garden, 

tomatoes, peppers and more

planted and cultivated by Dad and now myself

but also of large dreams

where some lie dead in the face of financial distress

others, in lack of progress 

from dreams blooming like sunflowers 

large dreams speak to the hours and hours I spend 

pouring over books, fact and figures 

attempting to use the ingredients and execute the recipe

began by Mom

I'm from baking bread 

the doughy smell enveloping the house

the lock to the fence

the security blanket 

   keeping us from getting hurt 

   from being a convert, to the broken world

I'm from protection

  from family

  from 

"You're extremely lucky, 

so many would wish 

  for just this"